When Darkness Falls
by TheBubbleGumGirl
Summary: A seemingly happy camping trip in the woods. Six teenagers. One psychopath.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Rant: **So this is pretty much the first story I have ever published at all, so please remember that when you are reviewing. You don't want to say something mean that will forever ruin my self-confidence and force me to give up writing and work at the supermarket, except it had to close down because of construction of a strip mall, and then I have nowhere to live because I can't pay my bills! Because that can happen. So my point is, please review. I can handle constructive criticism, but if you are going to be downright nasty, don't bother.

Also, I didn't add the whole Haley/Lucas in the hospital thing because it won't work with the story. So if you can please forget that, it would be appreciated. Thank you for your time!

* * *

"Alright, listen up!" Coach Durham barked to the noisy teenagers as he mounted onto the crowded yellow school bus. "We may have won the state championship, but remember, this camping trip is a privilege for you all, not a right. So any misbehavior or general disregard to the rules I've given you earlier, and we come straight back to Tree Hill High School. Do we have a deal?"

There were murmurs of assent, followed by noisy chatter and laughs. Coach Durham looked around, and took out his whistle.

"_I said_ do we have a deal?" he asked once more while the students, and even the annoyed bus driver, protected their ears from the shrill cry of the medal whistle. The students practically shouted their assent, and the satisfied basketball coach took a seat.

The varsity basketball team and the cheerleaders had won a two-day 'educational' trip to the Croatan National Forest of North Carolina by a very proud principal. The supposed purpose of the trip was to relax on scenic hikes and learn firsthand about wilderness, but everyone knew that this trip was really about drunken teenagers having a forest rave. And they had earned it.

After the duffel bags and suitcases had been stored into the school bus, the driver hopped back in, positioned himself on his seat, and said his ritual prayer of safety and security for this long drive. As the engine revved up, so did the teenagers. Some of them waved goodbye to their smiling parents, some of them mocked their jealous schoolmates walking on the sidewalk as they drove past the seemingly quaint, charming Southern town of Tree Hill, some of them got up to switch seats, but in all of their hearts, it was a sentimental moment. The last school field trip of senior year, to be remembered as a joyous trip with the people that surrounded their daily lives, whether they were friends, enemies, or simply strangers.

Peyton Sawyer ran a sweaty palm through her curly blonde hair, careful not to drop the speakers of the iPod that she and her boyfriend, Lucas Scott, were sharing. She turned to stare at him. His eyes were closed. Sighing, she realized that she'd wanted this for a long time; to be with him, show affection to each other, in public, without worrying about what other people saw or thought, especially Brooke Davis.

Peyton turned her head around to see what Brooke was doing. She was talking animatedly with her new best friend, Rachel Gatina. How quickly Brooke had been able to replace her. Of course, her and Brooke had now resolved their arguments, but Peyton couldn't help being jealous of the seductive redhead. _She _wanted Brooke to tell her all about what happened to that kid in third period. _Peyton _wanted to be the one Brooke confided in when she had a secret she couldn't keep. But Peyton knew she could never have that again. Brooke was a luxury, a pleasure to have around, but make a mistake and she'd be gone forever.

But Peyton knew she deserved what she got. She knew she was selfish, greedy, wanting only what she couldn't have. She had Lucas now, but she craved Brooke Davis. Brooke was gracious enough to even acknowledge Peyton, let alone talk to her. Even if it was meaningless small talk.

A tap on her shoulder shook her from her thoughts. The music was pulled out of her ears. And she liked that song. She looked at Lucas, who was listening to Coach Durham's monologue.

"...Anyways, there's been an accident at Croatan National Forest."

Noisy chatter took up the school bus once more.

"What kind of accident?" asked Haley Scott, a visibly pregnant young cheerleader.

"A foolish one."

"So the trip's off?" asked her husband, Nathan Scott, MVP of the Tree Hill Ravens, voicing everyone's main concern.

"Not quite yet," answered Coach Durham, to everyone's relief. "I've called in at Uwharrie National Forest, and they have available space for us. Unfortunately, that's about five hours away, and traffics blocked up right now, so we'll probably arrive there by two o'clock. That means you'll have missed the tour guided hike."

Obviously not caring, the students returned to their talking.

"So guess who has alcohol in her suitcase?" asked Rachel coyly.

"How did you not get it confiscated?" Brooke demanded, astonished at her friend's skills.

"Secret," Rachel replied, winking.

* * *

After about an hour, the ride became dull. Haley had to ask the bus driver to stop for a bathroom break five times. Peyton switched seats with Lucas and was now staring out of her window, listening to Sugarcult. Brooke was asleep on Rachel's shoulder, and Rachel was playing a sudoku chart. Even the bus driver had difficulty concentrating on the road that lay ahead of him. He had to slap himself to stay awake.

* * *

The bright yellow school bus came to a sudden halt in the woodsy parking lot. Many of the students fell forward and awoke with a start. Excitement rose among them, as they filed out of the bus.

"Finally, I can move my legs!" exclaimed Brooke happily. She jumped up and about, and proceeded to run around the bus until Coach Durham asked her to stop.

"Haley's having a baby! Yeah!" she cried.

"Yeah, Brooke, I think everyone is aware of that by now."

"Whatever you say, Tutor Girl." Brooke responded, sticking out her tongue.

Little did any of them know that someone in the bushes was listening to their conversations, gathering as much information as possible, getting ready to strike.

* * *

**Author's Rant: **Review, please! 


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Rant: **Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it!

* * *

"So, each campfire has three tents that can fit two people in it, but not anymore than that! Music is allowed as long as it isn't blasted. We must think of the animals that live around here. Food and drinks can be found at the cafeteria. It's about a mile and a half away from here. It is recommended that you bring extra bottles of water and snacks to your tent as the cafeteria closes at eight o'clock sharp. Please use our restrooms and refrain from urinating or…doing number two on the ground. Thank you."

Eric, the park ranger, had finished telling the students of Tree Hill High School the rules of Uwhattie National Park. Tipping his hat to Coach Durham, he pivoted and started walking all the way back to his hut.

The teenagers had already begun the race of finding good tents and locations. The couples would be sharing the tent, so those few single students hurried to find a friend to stay with.

"You're bunking with me," stated Brooke simply.

"Duh," was the redhead's response. "Okay, I think I found us a tent."

Brooke followed Rachel past the running kids and into the last campfire area. Interestingly enough, Nathan and Haley were at the same campfire. Brooke knew her devious friend loved to make trouble, but this was stepping into a dangerous territory. Wasn't just a while ago that Rachel tried to seduce Nathan? Brooke eyed her friend cautiously to see if she had her signature devilish smirk on her face.

"Hey guys, mind if we use this tent?" asked Rachel sweetly. Haley rolled her eyes and went back into her tent.

"Uh, sure," replied Nathan. "But I already told Lucas and Peyton that they could stay here, too."

He looked at Brooke pointedly. She looked a bit uncomfortable at the prospect of being near Lucas and Peyton as a couple for this weekend. Rachel noticed this and took action.

The yellow school bus driver was on his way back to Tree Hill. Driving on a lonely road in the middle of a North Carolina forest, he turned on the radio. Static. Frowning slightly, he turned it off. It had been a long, stressful day, and he was eager to get home to his wife.

All of the sudden, a rabbit jumped in front of the road. Startled, he swerved, not wanting to kill it. But unfortunately, his bus swerved completely off the road and into a muddy ditch. After banging his head abruptly on the steering wheel, letting out a frightening honk, he stepped out of his car to check on the school bus. But once he stepped out into the crisp, cool air, he noticed something odd. The rabbit was dead. It looked as though it had been stabbed by something sharp. He advanced to take a closer look, when something hard hit him on the back of his neck. The starry sky was the last thing he saw before he passed out cold onto the hard, paved road.

The dusk was upon them, and, by coincidence, the six teenagers found themselves together at the same campfire. It was strange, being together. There was so much history and conflict between the six of them. Brooke, Rachel, Peyton, Lucas, Haley and Nathan sat awkwardly staring off into the fire or at their feet.

"Well, I'm pretty hungry," stated Haley, trying to make small talk. All the attention was focused onto her.

"Yeah," replied Lucas, her best friend. "How about I go get food for us all?"

"I'll go with you," offered Peyton, not wanting to be alone and with no one to talk to.

Together, they marched off to the cafeteria, about a mile away.

* * *

Peyton and Lucas returned to the campfire about forty-five minutes later.

"What took you guys so long? I'm starving!" asked Nathan, his stomach growling loudly. Haley and Brooke giggled.

"Uh, there were a lot of people there, so all we got was some fish sticks." explained Lucas.

"Sorry we couldn't get any burgers, but it was either this or stale salad bowls," said Peyton, passing the cardboard trays to everyone. Rachel took up a fish stick, sniffed it, and gagged.

"This is really nasty." Rachel commented. "Pass me the ketchup."

They sat together, making remarks about their food.

"Eurgh, mine has cartilage in it!" exclaimed Brooke.

"I don't think this is good for the baby," frowned Haley concernedly.

"I'll go find you something better to eat. There are probably some good sandwiches at the ranger's station. Besides, I need to walk off those calories before I end up like fatass here." Rachel said, gesturing to Brooke. Brooke rolled her eyes jokingly.

It was beginning to get dark, but that didn't scare Rachel. It had been a long while since the time she had been afraid of the dark. She marched off bravely.

"Nope. I'm not scared of the dark anymore," was her mantra.

She remembered a time when she would lie in bed in her big, beautiful house in Nantucket, while her parents would sneak off into the night with their blaring red sports car. Only eight years old, young Rachel would cling onto her pillow, trying not to think about the fact that she was the only person in the house, and there was no one to protect her. The classic old house would make sudden creaks while she'd lie in bed, paralyzed with fear.

The present Rachel shivered a bit upon this remembrance. She hadn't thought about that in years, even though she needed therapy to get rid of her "night fears." But obviously she wasn't completely over since she forced Brooke to sleep in the same room with her, although the house had several other available ones.

"Damn," she muttered, realizing that she'd forgotten how to get up to the ranger's station. Instead, Rachel decided she'd go over to the next campfire and ask someone.

She walked at a steady pace, breathing calmly and deeply as the sky grew darker and the branches of the trees rattled from birds and bats flying around. _Stupid forest animals_, she thought bitterly. Finally, she saw the familiar flickering of a warm campfire and approached it enthusiastically before realizing something odd. _They're really quiet_, she thought._ I hope they aren't asleep already_.

"Bevin?" she called out. "Skillz? What the…"

She came around a large bush and was horrified by what she saw. Five of her friends, lying dead on the floor. Instantly, the old fear returned. Her body was paralyzed once more and frozen. Her mind was blank and her legs were heavy. She couldn't think or even see straight. All of the calming advice of Dr. Sheffield had vanished from her range of thought. For minutes she stood there, not being able to function. Finally, the fear mounted into a climax and she snapped, running hard back towards her own campfire. She ran like she'd never run in her life, not on the treadmill, not at cheer practice, not ever.

She reached her friends, sitting happily together. Rachel's knees gave way and she fell to the floor, scraping them bloodily, and promptly vomited on the floor. Her panic spread to the rest of her friends, who kneeled next to her and bombarded her with questions.

"What the hell happened?"

"Are you alright?"

"What's going on?"

Rachel looked up and uttered four simple words. "The burgers were poisoned." And she kneeled back down, while Brooke held her hair back.

* * *

REVIEW! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Rant: **Wow, so many reviews! Thank you, everyone! To answer a couple of questions, no this will not be femslash, although it will focus a bit on Brooke and Peyton's deteriorated friendship. I have no problem with homosexuality, but I just don't swing that way myself. And I will be keeping this story Leyton. I'm not a Leyton or Brucas fan because personally, I don't think Lucas deserves either of them, but since this season is a Leyton season, that's how this story is going to go. Sorry, Brucas fans! Keep on reviewing guys, because it makes me right a lot faster!

* * *

"Rachel?" said Brooke gently. "Rachel, breathe honey, just breathe."

The redhead was in full panic mode; hyperventilation, shortness of breath, the whole deal. After telling them about the black inky substance coming out of their deceased friends' mouths, she was thrown into fits of hysteria.

"What the hell is going on?" demanded Nathan angrily. "Who the hell would poison teenagers?"

Something struck in the back of Lucas' head.

"Guys," he started. "Listen up. I don't know for sure if this is connected, but last night I was watching the news with my mom. Anyways, there was this story on how some murderer broke out of the New Hanover prison. He was convicted of killing two teenagers and he had a life term there."

Lucas' words hung in the air. An eerie silence came upon them where they all realized that this must be true.

"Oh, God," breathed Haley. "We have to get out of here."

"We need a plan," stated Peyton. They all turned to stare at her. "Well, I don't know any plans myself."

"Okay, first of all, we're going to put out this fire. That way this stupid maniac won't be able to trace us. Then, we'll get the hell out of here. But we have to stick together, guys." Nathan said.

"Whoa, when did you become an expert on this?" asked Brooke, digging through her purse anxiously.

"Boy Scouts, third grade."

"Oh," responded Brooke. "Shit, my cell phone is out of range!"

Everybody immediately scrambled to their cellular phones. Everybody groaned.

"My cell phone works…but it's almost out of battery." Lucas told them.

"Quick! Call the police!" insisted Rachel. Lucas dialed and held the phone up to his ear. It rang two times until the battery failed and automatically shut off.

"Where's your recharger?" asked Peyton anxiously.

"I kind of…lost it."

"Lost it?!" boomed Nathan angrily. "How do you lose a cell phone recharger? God, Lucas. We were counting on you."

"Well, he's never been a reliable guy, has he?" snarled Brooke. There was no way she was going to be eaten by a crazy psycho because of her cheating ex-boyfriend's carelessness.

"You suck," said Rachel, staring straight at Lucas. Peyton glared at Brooke and Rachel hatefully. No one, besides her, was going to be mean to her boyfriend. Then she turned to Lucas and punched him in the arm.

"What? It's not my fault, guys!" he defended.

"Whatever," said Nathan. "We need to get out of here now. C'mon guys, let's stick together."

So they set off walking in Nathan's choice of direction. It was an unspoken understanding that Nathan was the leader. After twenty minutes of trudging through the damp forest, Peyton broke the silence.

"Lucas? Would you please stop stepping on twigs? It's freaking me out."

"Peyt, that's not me. Maybe it's you, Haley."

"What? Why would you say that? Oh, it's because I'm fat now, isn't it?"

"It's not me." Rachel spoke up in her high-pitched voice.

"Not me either, Elmo."

"Well, if it's not me either, then one of you is lying." Nathan said angrily.

Suddenly Brooke stopped in her tracks.

"Okay, whoever's hand is creeping up my arm, needs to stop."

"Hello? I said stop, guys!" She paused for a minute before whining. "Stop, guys! It's not funny."

"Brooke? None of us is touching you," said Peyton slowly into the pitch black. Brooke hyperventilated a bit before shrieking madly. Her yells caused the rest of the girls to start screaming and running around like cluttered chickens. Blindly, Brooke latched on to a random person and dragged him along as she ran wildly into the forest.

* * *

Frightened and cold, Haley found herself walking by herself through the woods. Too scared to scream for her friends, she remained completely silent, right down to her feet. Suddenly, she heard a low, throaty grumble.

"Nathan?" she called out softly. "Is that you?" The deep voice groaned affirmative.

"Oh, my goodness, Nathan, what a mess we're in! I cannot believe that this is happening. It's right out of a scary movie, you know? Gosh, I'm so scared that my knees are literally shaking."

She paused for a few minutes, scratching dead leaves away from her cheerleading uniform. Sighing, she picked up where she left off.

"I'm so worried for the baby, though. Nathan, what if something happens? Oh, Nathan, I couldn't bear it. I just couldn't bear it if I lost you or the baby!" she sobbed, reaching out to Nathan. But Nathan didn't physically respond. Instead of instinctively caressing his wife, he remained stiff and still. It didn't take Haley long to figure out what was happening.

"Oh, shit," she whispered, turning to run. At first she ran straight into a tree, though, and fell to the floor. Clutching her swollen belly, she crawled through bushes, spiking, dry leaves and sharp, thin branches. Her face and arms were cut and bleeding in several different areas. She screamed and sobbed loudly and painfully as she felt a very large, cold hand clutching the back of her neck tightly, pulling her long hair towards him. She kicked and fussed until she realized that there was nothing she could do without risking the life of her precious, unborn baby. And she let herself be dragged through the forest roughly, holding on to a little piece of hope.

* * *

**Author's Rant:** Okay, everyone. I'm going to let you guys in on a part of my story. Who do you think should lose their life? Lucas? Rachel? Haley? Brooke? Nathan? Peyton? Vote for the character you want to see die a horrible, gory death, and it may just come through. So don't forget to review! 


End file.
